Concrete form and clamp therefore

ABSTRACT

A form for producing concrete columns and clamping opened for the form, such means comprising a pair of angle bars of substantially L-shape arranged to cross one another to form a frame which defines a square or rectangular opening for embracing a column form. The bars are held together by a single bolt upon which they may be pivoted during fitment or removal of the form, with adjusting means having quick attachment arrangements provide a means by which the clamp can be urged into clamping relationship with the form. By means of clamps constructed as described, when attached to a form the form may be opened or stripped off as a unit without requiring dismantling of its parts and it may be placed into repeated use with a minimum of effort.

Melfi nited States Patent 1 1 Mar. 5, 1974 1 1 CONCRETE FORM AND CLAMP THEREFORE [76] Inventor: Samuel T. Melfi, 520 NE. Wave CL, Boca Raton, Fla. 33432 22 Filed: Dec. 3, 1971 21 Appl. No.: 204,520

[52] US. Cl; 269/116, 249/48, 249/219 R [51] Int. Cl B2511) 5/14, E04g 13/02 [58] Field of Search... 269/115, 116, 117, 122-125;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,159,279 11/1915 Schaefer 269/116 1,627,085 5/1927 Giggal i 269/115 1,936,666 l1/l933 Hall 249/48 UX 2,463,965 3/1949 Grassi et a1. 249/67 3,525,515 8/1970 Melfi .L 269/116 Primary ExaminerRoy Lake Assistant Examiner-Neil Abrams Att0rney,A gent, orlF irm- Markva & Smith; Erwin A. \lzgger; Harry Radzinsky I I 1 ABSTRACT A form for producing concrete columns and clamping opened for the form, such means comprising a pair of angle bars of substantially L-shape arranged to cross one another to form a frame which defines a square or rectangular opening for embracing a column form, The bars are held together by a single bolt upon which they may be pivoted during fitment or removal of the form, with adjusting'means having quick attachment arrangements provide a means by which the clamp can be urged into clamping relationship with the form. By means of clamps constructed as described, when attached to a form the fiqrm may be opened or stripped off as a unit without requiring dismantling of its parts and it may be placed into repeated use with a minimum of effort.

1 Claim, 7 Drawing Figures PATENIEI] MAR 5 2874 SHEET 2 OF 2 il CONCRETE FORM AND CLAMP THEREFORE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Column clamps as presently employed in the concrete art are often provided with wedges by means of which they are clampingly urged into firm contact with the form partsQSuch clamps have certain disadvantages since they often do not secure the proper clamping fit around the form; the concrete sometimes holds the wedges against easy removal when the removal of the clamp is desired, and the concrete often partially fills the openings in which the wedges are to be located and which requires time and effort to remove in order to place the clamps in satisfactory operating condition. Forms used with such clamps require dismantling after each use and this means considerable expenditure of work time when they are to be re-used.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a clamp and a form in which the above drawbacks are eliminated; in which" a secure and positive clamping action on the concrete form is attained, and which unitized form clamp can be easily cleaned if necessary, preparatory to re-use. I

' The present invention involves a clamp of the general character shown in my US. Pat. No. 3,525,515 and the disclosed device is an improvement over the clamp shown in that patent.

A feature of the present invention consists in the provision of a pair of L-shaped angle pieces which are disposed in crossed relation and are pivotally connected at one corner to co-operate in the formation of a substantially square or rectangular opening adapted to embrace the parts of a column form. The L-shaped angle pieces are pivotally connected together by a single bolt on which they may be pivotally moved when required and particularly during the fitment and the removal of the clamp from the form is easily done when they are not attached thereto. Easily operative adjusting means are provided at diagonally opposite ends of the clamps.

The clamps are provided with holes which make it possible to bolt or screw the clamps to the wooden or other material form parts. This enables the forms to be repeatedly reused without requiring separation of the clamps from the form parts each time that the form is used. This is a great advantage over conventional clamps which require separation from the form parts after each use. The form is thus maintained as a complete unit that requires disassembling only when a column of another size is to be poured. However, this does not preclude the use of clamps as individual units when there are non repetitive requirements.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION I line 3-3 of FIG. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 4 shows how the halves of the form, with clamps attached, can be pivotally moved apart;

FIG. 5 shows a column and slab form in place;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a modified form of clamping means and FIG. 7 is a front view of the structure shown in FIG. 6.

Referring to the drawing and particularly to FIG. 1, there is shown therein a clamp composed of two similar L-shaped angle bars indicated respectively at 1 and 2. Each of the bars consists of two straight pieces of square or rectangular tubing 3 and 4 welded together in a cornerjoint 5 to form an L-shaped angle bar having the two connected pieces thereof arranged at right angles to one another.

The two L-shaped angle bars 1 and 2 are arranged to be pivotally connected together by a bolt 6 at a point of crossing of the two bars or for adjustability the leg of bar 1, crossing on top of the leg of bar 2, is provided with a row of holes 7 for the selective reception of the bolt 6. A washer 6a may be placed around the bolt 6 at the joint of crossing of the bars 1 and 2.

The two L-shaped bars 1 and 2 are each composed of hollow tubing that is preferably, but not necessarily, rectangular in cross section and a wall, or both walls of the leg 3 of bar 1, is provided with a plurality of keyhole or round-hole openings 7 and 8 adapted for the detachable reception of rivets 10 (FIG. 2) extending from an adjusting screw 9 to attach the adjusting screw assembly to the bar. These screw assemblies are located at two of the corners of the present structure and the same may be similar in construction to those disclosed in my Pat. No. 3,525,515. Each screw is threadably adjustable through a sleeve 11 and it has a square or non-round rear end 12 by means of which the screw can be adjustably rotated and thus advanced or retracted as required to attain the desired clamping action of the two angle bars around the form.

The key-hole slots 8 into which the fastening rivets 10 of the adjusting screw assemblies extend permit the rapid attachment or removal and adjustment of the screw assemblies.

As an alternative for the screw arrangement 9, an eccentric cam 34 shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 provided with a bolt or cap screw 35 having a washer 35a, the bolt being of the same diameter as the larger diameter part of the keyhole opening, may be inserted through the top and bottom walls of the bars and by means of a ratchet wrench the cam 34 can be urged against the bar to tighten the form; if the space between the bars is too large. A filler of suitable thickness, not shown, can be placed against the bar to provide a point of contact for the cam and to reinforce the bar at and adjacent to the point of contact by the cam. Other means for mounting the cam 34 can be had, the optimum being a quick and easy positioning of the clamp in clamping position or its release therefrom.

As will be seen in FIG. 1, one of the angle bars overlies the other and only the one connecting bolt 6 is used to couple the two bars together. As will be noted in the drawings, the adjusting means on one of the bars is ar ranged on the under side of the same, while those on the other bar are located on the top of the latter bar.

The arrangement of the L-shaped bars, held together by a single bolt, facilitates the placement and stripping off of the clamp and it also reduces the screw assembly requirements of the device to a large degree.

ln placing the clamp in position on a form, the two bars 1 and 2 are swung apart on the bolt 6 to an extent needed to permit the clamp to be fitted around the form. If the bars are connected together by the bolt 6' at such a point that no adjustment of them at the corner of the clamp where the bolt is located is necessary, then only the adjusting screws or other adjusting means at the diagonally opposite corners of the clamp will be required to properly fit the clamp on the form. If any slight adjustment is required at the corner where the bolt 6 is situated, such slight adjustment will be permissible because of the keyhole slot beyond the crossing bar which can be utilized for screw assembly adjustment. As an alternative, the bolt may be removed if necessary and then only the adjusting means such as the screw assembly or cam may be used for the adjustment at that corner.

A storage stop may be provided at 13 for holding the adjusting screws in place when they are not in use. Similarly, a storage unit may be provided for the cam bolt assembly.

The form on which the clamps are used is clearly shown in FIGS. 1 and 5. The form includes plywood panels or facings 30 of other material reinforced by a suitable number of reinforcing strips 31. The parts of the form namely, the strips 31 and panels 30 are attached to the clamp halves by means of lag screws 32 or bolts 33. The lag screws which may enter but not pass entirely through the plywood panels 30 are used when it is found desirable to avoid the formation of holes completely through the panels, as would be required if bolts instead of lag screws were used.

The cap screws indicated at 33a in FIG. 1 are adapted to pass through nuts 33b which are welded to the bars 1 and 2. in removing the form after the molding operation, the screws 33 are threaded inwardly so that the inner ends of the screws will pass through form parts 30 and bear against the concrete and force the bars apart to thus facilitate the removal of the clamp from the molded concrete.

By fastening the parts of the form to the halves 1 and 2 of the clamp, the removal of the form from a poured column is quickly obtained by pivotally moving the two halves of the clamp apart as shown in FIG. 4, the form parts remaining attached to the halves of the clamp.

One set of the L-shaped clamps, usually four of them in an eight foot column, may be bolted or screwed to the facing panels or sides of one half the form to provide for sufficient strength. The other set of the clamps may be bolted or screwed to the other two panels (the other half) of the form in series so that the second set of clamps will have diagonal ends fitting over the diagonal ends of the first set and cross the same. At one series of diagonal crossings of the base, bolts may be dropped through the coinciding holes of the top set of bars and in coinciding holes on the bottom set of bars, thus creating a series of hinges 6 by means of which the complete form may swing open or shut as a unit (FlG. 4). The bolts 6 which act as hinge pins may have a nut attached for preventing the pins from falling out if the form is placed upside down. In cases where there is insufficient space to swing the two halves as a unit, it may be desirable to remove the series of bolts thereby enabling erection and stripping of the form in two separated halves.

As heretofore stated, the two L-shaped angle bars 1 and 2 are connected together by the bolt 6 at a point of crossing of the two bars and for the adjustability of the leg 3 of'bar 1, crossing on top of the leg 4 of bar 2, the legs are provided with the row of holes 7 for the seiective reception of the bolt 6. These holes are preferably, but not necessarily, of elongated or keyhole shape to serve a twofold purpose. Firstly, if the large diameter part of the keyholes 7 of the bars 1 and 2 coincide, the bolt 6 can act as a hinge pin. If the holes do not coincide when the angle 5 fits tightly against the form members, then the screw assemblies or other adjusting means may be used on the bar 4 against the bar 3 and also on the bar 3 against the bar 4 as shown at the diagonally opposite corner.

In FIG. 5 a column form is shown in position for pouring. A column form of approximately eight feet tall may be assembled on the ground or floor, the clamps being fitted around and assembled and attached by means of the screws or bolts 32 and/or 33 to the form parts 30, 31. The assembled form, indicated at 37 in FIG. 5, may be picked up by a crane and fitted down over the conventional upstanding reinforcing rods then in place and which will thereupon project upwardly within the form. The entire floor above the column is framed and the columns are poured and on the following day or subsequently the floor above the columns may be poured.

The form 37 is usually made shorter than the distance between floor to ceiling, the top edge of the form in place being indicated at 42, to enable the form when placed in position, to clear the floor forming members 51, 52 and 38 above it and any adjacent posts such as those shown at 39, 40. To bring the poured column up to the ceiling a supplementary form shown at 43 is used. This form 43 has a split collar at the top as shown at 50 and the supplementary form is adjusted by means of wedges 44 placed between the lower edge 45 of the supplementary form and the top edge 42 of the main form 37. The distance between the edges 42 and 45 is closed by inserted L-shaped plates 46 so that the poured concrete that forms the column will be continuous. The supplementary form can, if desired, be made entirely of metal, which can reduce the weight and cost, and simplify positioning.

The described arrangement is such that the form can be assembled away from the point of installation and pouring. The form can be removed from the poured column without being dismantled but merely by swinging the halves of the form apart, the start of such movement being shown in FIG. 4. Thus, when a form is removed from a poured column it can be at once placed in position for another pouring without requiring a reassembly of separated parts. These and other advantages will be readily apparent to those skilled in this art.

What l claim is:

l. A column form clamp comprising:

a. a pair of L-shaped bars having a single adjusting pivot, locking and attachment holes and being arranged to form openings between them to accommodate variously sized concrete forms,

b. each of the L-shaped bars consisting of two straight legs welded together permanently to maintain the legs at substantially right angles with respect to each other,

e. the legs of one of the L-shaped bars crossing the legs of the other L-shaped bar when the two L- shaped bars are in a position to produce the form opening,

d. the bars being pivotally connected together by a single hinge pin at a point where one of the L- shaped bars crosses a leg of another of the L- shaped bars,

e. the bars being pivotally mounted on said hinge pin to permit swinging of the bars to or from one another during the fitment or removal of the clamp from the form, and

f. adjusting means located in the holes of the free swinging legs diagonally opposite to the pivot pin bars for urging the clamp into clamping relation the form to close. 

1. A column form clamp comprising: a. a pair of L-shaped bars having a single adjusting pivot, locking and attachment holes and being arranged to form openings between them to accommodate variously sized concrete forms, b. each of the L-shaped bars consisting of two straight legs welded together permanently to maintain the legs at substantially right angles with respect to each other, c. the legs of one of the L-shaped bars crossing the legs of the other L-shaped bar when the two L-shaped bars are in a position to produce the form opening, d. the bars being pivotally connected together by a single hinge pin at a point where one of the L-shaped bars crosses a leg of another of the L-shaped bars, e. the bars being pivotally mounted on said hinge pin to permit swinging of the bars to or from one another during the fitment or removal of the clamp from the form, and f. adjusting means located in the holes of the free swinging legs diagonally opposite to the pivot pin bars for urging the clamp into clamping relation with the form, g. said adjusting means at the free ends of the form clamp consisting of a rigid eccentric cam and bolt assembly having a bolt portion insertable through one of the series of holes in the bar nearest to a point of crossing of the bars for urging a cross bar against the form, h. said eccentric cam located at one end of said bolt portion and including a polygonal head for engagement by a wrench to thereby turn the cam into engagement with the leg on one of the bars causing the form to close. 